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COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



THE STUDY OF THE BEHAVIOR OF AN 
INDIVIDUAL CHILD 



THE STUDY OF THE BEHAVIOR OF 
AN INDIVIDUAL CHILD 

SYLLABUS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 



BY 

JOHN T. iVlCMANlS 

Professor of Education, Chicago Normal College 




BALTIMORE: 

WARWICK & YORK, INC. 

19?6 






uB\\,6 



Copyright, 1916, 
by 
Warwick & York, Inc. 



¥. 



if. 



NOV i4 19l6 

'GLA445839 



PREFACE. 

This Syllabus is the outgrowth of attempts to direct 
prospective teachers in classes in Education to under- 
stand child life in the city. In doing this work it has 
been found more effective to study individual cases 
rather than the child as a type or children in general. 
As soon as a young woman has assumed responsibil- 
ity for the study and care of an individual child she 
has sought for general material and for advice to help 
her understand her problem. The fundamental as- 
sumption underlying the course is that the child is 
like other living creatures. Placed under the artificial 
environment of the city he is handicapped in many 
respects and it is the business of education to re- 
move such handicaps so far as possible. In order 
to do this, it is necessary to understand the child's 
hfe in detail and to see the kind of conditions essential 
for his proper growth. 

No attempts at completeness have been made in 
either the Syllabus or the Bibliography. The object 
has been to suggest lines of study for persons who are 
not expert investigators but who are to become 
teachers of the young. The books and references 
given are such as are available to beginning students. 

In offering the work to the public the author hopes 
that it may serve to ameliorate the lot of children in 
the city. 



CONTENTS 

Preface 1 

I. Introduction 5 

II. General Method of Studying Behavior of the Child 7 

III. Physical Conditions 10 

IV. Home Conditions 14 

V. Plays and Games 18 

VI. Instinctive Activities 21 

VII. Outside Interests and Activities 25 

VIII. School Life 28 

IX. Mental Characteristics and Disposition 31 

X. Learning Process 34 

XI. Language 37 

XII. Drawing 41 

XIII. Movements and Motor Ability 45 

XIV. Moral Characteristics 48 

XV. The Exceptional Child 52 



INTRODUCTION. 

In a recent book* the following statements occur, 
statements which serve to give the point of view of this 
Syllabus: ^^One of the greatest results of the doctrine 
of organic evolution has been the determination of 
man's place in nature. For many centuries it has 
been known that in bodily structure man is an animal; 
that he is born, nourished and developed, that he 
matures, reproduces and dies just as the humblest 
animal or plant. . . . But wholly aside from the 
doctrine of evolution, the fact that essential and funda- 
mental resemblances exist among all kinds of organ- 
isms can not fail to impress thoughtful men. Life 
processes are everywhere the same in principle, though 
varying greatly in detail. All the general laws of 
life which apply to animals and plants apply also to 
man. This is no mere logical inference from the 
doctrine of evolution, but a fact which has been 
established by countless observations and experiments. 
The essential oneness of all life gives direct human 
interest to all things. 

''One of the greatest and most far-reaching themes 
which have ever occupied the minds of men is the 
problem of development. Whether it be the develop- 
ment of an animal from the egg, of a race or species 
from a pre-existing one, or of the body, mind and insti- 
tutions of man, this problem is everywhere much the 
same in fundamental principles, and knowledge gained 



*Conklin, Heredity and environment in the development of man. 

5 



6 BEHAVIOR OF AN INDIVIDUAL CHILD 

in one of these fields must be of value in each of the 
other. Ontogeny and phylogeny are not wholly dis- 
tinct phenomena, but are only two aspects of the one 
general process of organic development. The evolu- 
tion of races and of species is sufficiently rare and un- 
familiar to attract much attention and serious thought ; 
while the development of an individual is a phenom- 
enon of such universal occurrence that it is taken as 
a matter of course by most people, something so evi- 
dent that it seems to require no explanation; but 
familiarity with the fact of development does not 
remove the mystery which lies back of it, though it 
may make plain many of the processes concerned. 
The development of a human being, of a personality, 
from a germ cell is the climax of all wonders, greater 
even than that involved in the evolution of a species or in 
the making of a world. ^' 

In being understood, in being cared for and nurtured 
in body and mind, in being well bred and in having a 
clean, wholesome environment, the child should receive 
at least as much consideration as plant or animal. 



II. 

GENERAL METHOD OF STUDYING 
BEHAVIOR OF THE CHILD. 

Instead of discussing hypothetical children we 
desire to study and to try to interpret real children by 
associating with them and watching directly their 
reactions and dispositions. In doing this we must 
bear in mind that the child, like other living creatures, 
is susceptible to the treatment given to him. If he is 
to be understood by another he must receive encourage- 
ment, must be respected as a personality, must be 
treated with frankness and openness, must be relied 
upon implicitly for his own viewpoint. Growing chil- 
dren have many companions and playfellows, but 
few intimate friends, especially among adults. The 
essential prerequisite for understanding and helping 
the child lies in close, sympathetic friendship. This 
does not imply a gushing, overzealous crowding of a 
superior being into the child's affairs, but a genuine 
interest in his life and his purposes and accomplish- 
ments. Probably the rarest quality in adulthood is 
this power to become an unaffected friend of a child. 
The difficulty lies in our own self-centred interests 
and not in the child. 

On the other hand, it is desirable that the student 
of child hfe should know something of the method of 
the scientist. Especially important is the disinterested 
application of all the intelligence at the disposal of 
the student to the problems confronting him in the 
life of the child. The cold-blooded analysis of the 



8 BEHAVIOR OF AN INDIVIDUAL CHILD 

powers of the child has some value, though a much 
more Hmited one, for teachers than that of a more inti- 
mate and human sort. One of the difficulties of many 
of the ''tests'' used on children is the failure of these 
to take into account the child as a whole. In the 
following outline much more emphasis is placed on a 
complete sympathy between child and student than 
on the merely scientific aspect of the problem. • The 
fullest cooperation of parents and teachers must be 
secured before undertaking the study of any child. 
Children who have been ''problems" in some respects 
offer opportunities for both study and service, but the 
greater emphasis should be on normal growing chil- 
dren. 

The following studies are not to be taken up serially, 
but are to serve merely as topics to guide the analysis 
of the child's reactions. The syllabus is made to cover 
ages of children in school. Great discrimination is 
required to determine where particular reactions 
belong in any classification, and success can come 
only after practice and experimentation. Since the 
syllabus is only a guide, topics must be modified to fit 
each individual case. Questions relative to the pos- 
session of given characteristics should be answered 
positively, rather than by indicating the absence of 
such traits. Be sure to understand through reading 
and study the exact meaning of each topic before under- 
taking to work with it on the child. Keep an accur- 
ate diary or notebook of time and circumstances of 
the activities of the child. 

Study Outline. 
Throughout the study observe the following points: 

1. Associate with the child at regular and stated 
intervals. 

2. Aim to make an intimate friend of him. 



GENERAL METHODS OF STUDYING BEHAVIOR 9 

3. Make all data got from association with the child 
incidental to acquaintance with his individuality, 
ideals, and needs. 

4. Reports on the following topics are to be filled 
out only after having secured entire confidence of child. 

5. Each topic requires special treatment: physical 
condition requires precise study; home surroundings 
require tact and human sympathy; outside play life 
requires an association with child and his companions. 

6. If child is of school age, reports on school work, 
mental characteristics, learning process, movements, 
and special capacities require consultation with child's 
teacher and frequent visits to his school room, there- 
fore, select a child giving such opportunities. 

7. Condition, acts and tendencies must be compared 
with those of other children, both sexes, all ages. 

Suggestive Reading. 

Clapar^de, Experimental pedagogy, chapters ii, iii. New York: Long- 
mans, Green & Co. 1911. 
Clouston. The hygiene of the mind, chapters x, xi. New York: 

E. P. Button & Co. 1907. 
Gesell. The normal child and primary education, chapters ii-v. 

Boston: Ginn & Co. 
KiRKPATRiCK, The individual in the making, chapters iii-xi. Boston: 

Houghton, Mifflin Company. 
Partridge, Outline of individual study. New York: The Macmillan 

Co. 1910. 
Pyle, The examination of school children. New York: The Macmillan 

Co. 1913. 
Raymont, The principles of education, chapter v. London: Longmans, 

Green & Co. 1913. 
Rusk, Introduction to experimental education, chapters i-iii. London: 

Longmans, Green & Co. 1912. 
ScHULZE, Experimental psychology and pedagogy. New York: The 

Macmillan Company. 1912. 
Terman, The hygiene of the school child. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin 

Co. 1914. 
Warner, The study of children, chapters iv-vii. New York: The 

Macmillan Co. 1910. 
Whipple, Manual of mental and physical tests. 2 volumes. Baltimore: 

Warwick & York. 1914. 



III. 

PHYSICAL CONDITIONS OF THE CHILD. 

The child's physical condition plays a leading part 
in his mental and moral well-being and therefore must 
be carefully looked into and guarded. The student 
should learn to detect signs of bodily imperfections 
and be able to suggest help. Wherever a suspicion of 
serious difficulty exists students should call attention 
of parents to such cases and advise consultation with 
specialists. Especial notice should be taken of condi- 
tions under which the child lives as to health and nor- 
mal growth. 

Physical growth is irregular in all directions. Dur- 
ing some years the child grows rapidly in height or 
weight, some years he grows slowly. Growth is not 
merely a change in size of body or parts of body, but a 
transformation and reorganization of the relationships 
of parts. Legs and arms grow in parts, sometimes the 
upper parts accelerate and sometimes the lower, so 
that arms and legs are changing in relative length 
and strength of parts. Trunk growth in length and 
breadth is rhythmical, first in one direction and then 
in another. Bodily organs also have their nascent 
stages of growth. Heart and lungs grow so irregularly 
as to make child-life somewhat uncertain and precar- 
ious. During a rapidly growing period the child re- 
quires different treatment from what he does during 
a period of slow growth. Some of these stages of 
transition have been called ^'critical periods" and it 
will be found that they are times of particularly irreg- 
ular and erratic growth of different parts of the body. 

10 



PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 11 

Learn the distinguishing marks of each stage of growth, 
and study the conditions best adapted to meet them. 
Note carefully whether you see resemblances or 
dissimilarities between the physical growth and make- 
up of this particular individual and that of other 
children. There are decided differences between the 
maturity of children of the same age. Chronological 
age and physical and mental maturity are often far 
apart. As a rule girls are more precocious than boys 
so that what the former can do the latter are not yet 
ready to do. Height and weight are valuable marks 
for physical maturity, though taken alone they are 
not sufficient to determine the maturity of the child. 
Try to correlate with height and weight of body the 
activities of the child in order to determine his age. 

Report on Physical Condition of the Child, 

1. Age 2. Sex 

3. Height (Make several measurements during sea- 
son) standing 

4. Height sitting Relation of 

sitting to standing 

5. Weight (Make several measurements during sea- 
son) 

6. Compare above measurements with averages in 
tables 

7. Account for child's position in relation to these 
averages 

8. Proportion and symmetry of body — spinal curva- 
ture, breadth of shoulders, proportions of head, neck, 
etc. 

9. Defects or deformities 

10. Make accurate test for eyes 



12 BEHAVIOR OF AN INDIVIDUAL CHILD 

Note for defects the following: Congested and in- 
flamed eyelids, granulated lids, squinting, frowning, 
poor posture, nervousness, headaches, manner of hold- 
ing book, indistinct vision, poor spelling or reading. 
Test for color vision. 

11. Test hearing. Use whisper and watch tests. 
Note poor speUing, imperfect speech, earaches, poor 
posture, stupid appearance, slow mentality, peculiar- 
ities in play with other children. 

12. Condition of teeth. Note decayed teeth, 
absent teeth, crooked or dirty teeth, sore or swollen 
gums, offensive breath, defects of speech, poor nutri- 
tion, pallor, failure to use brush regularly. 

13. Presence of adenoids. Note mouth breath- 
ing, ear trouble and deafness, prominent or crooked 
teeth, dull expression of eyes, underdeveloped chin, 
flat or nasal voice, backward mentality, narrow chest, 
nervousness. 

14. Nervousness. Note presence of twitching of 
parts of body, poor coordination of movements, rest- 
lessness, stuttering or imperfect articulation, irritabil- 
ity, emotional outbursts, over sensibility, if shows 
fatigue easily. 

15. Character of nourishment of body: Apply 
formula: 

arm girth x 100 

^ : = 30 

chest girth 
Other signs of good or poor nourishment. 

16. History of individual's health ... 

17. Note condition of skin and hair 

18. Note evidences of comparative physical matur- 
ity 

19. Give full description of general physical condi- 
tion and appearance. 



PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 13 



Suggestive Reading. 

Baldwin, Physical growth and school progress. Washington, D. C. : 

Government Printing Office. 1914. 
Bancroft, The posture of school children. See bibliography. New 

York: The Macmillan Co. 1913. 
Bryant, School feeding, chapter x. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott 

Co. 1913. 
Child study investigations. Chicago. 1900. 

Christopher, Three crises in child life. Child Study Mon., vol. iii. 
Cornell, Health and medical inspection. See index. Philadelphia: 

F. A. Davis Co. 1912. 
Drummond, Introduction to school hygiene. New York: Longmans, 

Green & Co. 1915. 
Groszman, The career of a child, chapter iv. Boston: R. G. Badger. 
Hall, Adolescence, volume i, chapters i-ii. New York: Appleton & 

Co. 1904. 
Harm AN, Defects of vision, chapter viii of Kalynack's Defective children. 

New York: Wood & Co. 1915. 
HoAG, Health index of children. San Francisco: Wliitaker & Ray- 
Wiggins Co. 1910. 
Love, The deaf child, chapter ix in Kal5niack's Defective children. 
Mead, Height and weight of children in relation to general intelligence. 

Ped. Sem. Sept., 1914. 
MoNTEssoRi, Pedagogical anthropology, chapter i. New York: F. A. 

Stokes & Co. 1913. 
RowE, The physical nature of the child. New York: The MacmiUan 

Co. 1914. 
Tanner, The child, chapters ii-iii. Chicago: Rand, McNally & Co. 

1904. 
Terman, The hygiene of the school child. See various chapters. 
Tyler, Growth and education, chapter iv. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin 

Co. 1907. 
Warner, The Study of Children. 



IV. 

HOME CONDITIONS OF THE CHILD. 

Trees, flowers, earth, water, animals, hand activ- 
ities, open air and outdoor occupations, have in one 
form or another always been vital parts of man's en- 
vironment, and are, therefore, parts of the heredity 
of each child. They are essential to the child for the 
awakening of the potential energies of his nature which 
lie at the foundation of civilization and culture. Only 
through laying this foundation can the child come to 
know and to appreciate the things that he meets in 
the complex, artificial environment of the present age. 

But the homes of children in the city are likely to 
be places adapted only to shelter, clothe, and feed them. 
To many people this seems wholly suflicient. Such 
persons do not realize how barren the environment of 
the children of the city really is and how lacking in 
the material that makes for a rich and full experience 
with life in its elemental forms. Doubtless this 
poverty of life for growing children is due to no fault 
of the homes but rather to city conditions which have 
robbed these homes of occupations and surroundings 
in which children had part and have cut off all re- 
sources for parental direction of activities and inter- 
ests of their young. As it now is, the street and school 
occupy most of the time of the young. 

In order to be of service to the child, study to see 
how far the home strives to conserve and train 
him in his work and play life, his health and general 
welfare. Specific instances of care for these matters 
or failure to provide the best conditions must be noted. 
Try to see and estimate the problems of parents in a 

14 



HOME CONDITIONS 15 

city environment and ask yourself whether more 
intelligent civic and community cooperation is not 
necessary properly to safeguard both parents and chil- 
dren. Study neighborhood activities to see how far 
these have a direct bearing on the child. Are there 
parent-teacher associations in the community and 
what problems relating to children have they under- 
taken? Is there any effort being made by the neigh- 
borhood to control places of amusement for children, 
such as parks, shows, and other activities? Note 
whether parents make it a point to take their children 
with them and to keep in touch with their play places 
and haunts and the companions they keep. 

In understanding the child one must know something 
of his heredity. It is not necessary to pry into the 
family history in any objectionable way, but merely 
to find out the main influences in the child's history 
that will help in his management and education. His 
parents and grandparents can often throw much light 
on his particular case and help in interpreting him. 
They are usually not only ready but anxious to help 
in such matters. If the child possesses striking 
pecuharities, if he is strong or weak, it is desurable to 
know whether this is a matter of heredity or some- 
thing coming from environmental influences. It will 
be necessary to state frankly that any intelligent 
treatment of the child by an outsider like the teacher 
is dependent upon a full knowledge of the history of 
the child. 

Study Outline. 

1. Location of home: its surroundings, street, com- 
munity, quiet or noisy, other buildings, vacant prop- 
erty, parks, etc. 



16 BEHAVIOR OF AN INDIVIDUAL CHILD 

2. Kind and size of home: house, flat, number of 
rooms, floor, and position in building, yard, garden, 
etc. 

3. Nationality or race of parents 

4. Language used at home — vernacular, cultivated 
or uncultivated. 

5. Occupations of parents 

6. Approximate amount of time spent daily by 
parents with child. 

7. Character of parents and attitude towards child 
— affectionate, indulgent, severe, frank, fair. 

8. General attitude of other members in home 
towards child — helpfulness, teasing, petting, cooper- 
ation, subserviency, nagging. 

9. Health of parents and general health history. 

10. Resemblances or differences between child and 
parent 

11. Approximate ages of parents 

12. Number of children in family, order of birth, 
brothers and sisters, their ages, and resemblances 
among them 

13. Provisions made in home specifically for 

(a) Health of child — Note bedroom, its size, loca- 
tion, and ventilation; hours of sleep; character of food; 
outdoor life. 

(b) Play of child — Note play room, toys, pets, 
companions admitted to home or encouraged. 

(c) Occupation of child — Note chores required to 
be done regularly, errands, outside work 

14. Make simple dietaries and estimate their appli- 
cation to this child 

15. Parents' interest in school life of child — co- 
operative, antagonistic, careless or actively concerned. 



HOME CONDITIONS 17 

16. Parents' interest in future of child — occupation 
and welfare. 

17. Relation of home to places of amusement — 
theatres, picture shows — also to church and Sunday- 
school 

Suggestive Reading. 

Addams, The spirit of youth and the city streets. New York: The Mac- 

millan Co. 1909. 
Allen, Civics and health. Boston: Ginn & Co. 1909. 
Breckinridge and Abbott, The delinquent child and the home. New 

York: Charities. 1912. 
Bruce, Psychology and parenthood, chapter i. New York: Dodd, 

Mead & Co. 1915. 
Carlton, Education and industrial evolution. New York: The Mac- 

millan Co. 1908. 
Coulter, The children in the shadow. New York: The Macmillan 

Co. 1913. 
Davenport, Heredity and eugenics. New York: The Macmillan Co. 

1911. 
Davis, Street-land. Boston: Small, Maynard & Co. 
Davis, Vocational and moral guidance. Boston: Ginn & Co. 
Dutton, Social phases of education, chapter 1. New York: The Mac- 
millan Co. 1899. 
Gilette, Vocational education. New York: American Book Co. 
Gruenberg, Your child of today and tomorrow, chapter xiv. New 

York: The Macmillan Co. 1913. 
Hall, Boy life in a Massachusetts country town forty years ago, pp. 

300-317 of Aspects of childlife and education. Boston: Ginn & 

Co. 1907. 
HoAG, Health index of children, chapter x. 
Holmes, The conservation of the child. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott 

Co. 
King, Social aspects of education, chapter iii. New York: The Mac- 
millan Co. 1914. 
Mangold, Child problems. New York: The Macmillan Co. 
Rusk, Introduction to experimental education, pp. 29-31. 
Nearing, The solution of the child labor problem. New York : Moffat, 

Yard & Co. 1911. 
ScHOFF, The wayward child, chapters iii-vi. Indianapolis: Bobbs- 

MerriU Co. 1915. 
Spargo, The bitter cry of the children. New York: The Macmillan Co. 

1906. 
Terman, The hygiene of the school child, chapter iv. 
Weeks, The people's school. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin Co. 



V. 

PLAYS AND GAMES OF THE CHILD. 

It has been said that play is the most serious busi- 
ness of childhood. Begin to look at the child's play 
not as mere fun or superficial demand for pleasure, 
but as an innate requirement of the healthy young for 
creative, active lives. Growth, physically and men- 
tally, morally and socially, depends primarily on 
play. For this reason play deserves most careful 
study. Notice that early play has little external organ- 
ization in it, but at the same time contains clear evi- 
dence of being orderly and controlled by the demands 
of the child's growing nature. By degrees play takes 
on the form of the game, having ends and explicit rules 
to seciu-e such ends. The plays of children owe their 
content largely to surroundings and to companion- 
ship, but then- form reveals the growth and matur- 
ity of the children. For example, two children of 
different ages may play ^'school" or ^^ball," but each 
plays a different kind of game because of his difference 
in matiu-ity of conceptions and standards. For the 
time being children become what they play: Indian, 
fireman, pohceman, each contains elements of chil- 
dren's natures projected into objective form, and are 
therefore not mere imitations of something outside of 
themselves. In so far as they can be encouraged thus 
to project themselves in play form, children can be 
controlled satisfactorily through the objects they 
put themselves into in play. People often insist that 
imitation explains the character of the play of chil- 
dren, while, as matter of fact, they might better say 

18 



PLAYS AND GAMES 19 

that children create the characters and parts they 
portray in their actions. Whatever the relation of 
imitation to play, this creativeness is the most sig- 
nificant part of it and must be studied very carefully 
if one is to see the nature and needs of the individual 
child. Socializing influences of play in this study will 
appear and should be watched and classified. 

Your best understanding of children will come from 
playing with them, from entering into their games, 
from helping them plan games, and from catching 
their spirit as they abandon themselves in play. Be 
sure to see as far as possible the points of view which 
actuate them in their activities. Most of the 
' troubles '^ of children come from their attempts to 
carry out their own legitimate purposes and plans 
which are misunderstood and mistaken for ^'mis- 
chiefs' by older persons. Insight into their lives got 
through study of play will often restrain our interfer- 
ence with their plans and help us to guide them into 
safe channels. 

Report on Plays and Games of the Child. 

1. What the child plays 

2. Describe in detail manner of playing — ^what he 
sees and tries to make his own through his play .... 

3. Individual or group plays and games. Dis- 
tinguish between unorganized play of younger chil- 
dren and organized games of older ones. 

4. Loyalty to group interests — when it arises, how 
it shows itself, and its effects on attitude of children 
toward each other 

5. Leadership in play. The being '4f of younger 
children must be distinguished from leadership in 
older children 



20 BEHAVIOR OF AN INDIVIDUAL CHILD 

6. Seasonal games 

7. Periodic interests and fads in play 

8. Differences shown by child in directed and un- 
directed play 

9. Where and when child plays — character of place 
as to appropriateness for play, quietness and cleanli- 
ness, etc. 

10. Possession of toys and implements for play .... 

11. Relate play of child if possible to 

(a) Physical growth as shown in first study. 

(b) Home life and attitude of elders towards play. 

12. Note mentahty shown by child in plans and 
execution of them: imagery, emotions, concentration, 
and tenacity 

13. Plan play or game for child and note carefully 

(a) Mental alertness — as in inventions or puzzles . . 

(b) Physical ability — as in ball throwing 

(c) Cooperation — as in ball game 

Suggestive Reading. 

Angell, Play. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 1910. 
Breckinridge and Abbott, The delinquent child and the home, chap- 
ter ix. 
CuRTiss, Education through play. New York: The Maemillan Co. 

1915. 
Dewey, Schools of tomorrow, chapter v. New York: E. P. Button 

& Co. 
Dresslar, School hygiene, chapter ii. New York: The Maemillan Co. 

1913. 
Grogs, The play of man. New York: Appleton. 1908. See also 

The play of animals by same author. 
GuLiCK, Psychological, pedagogical, and religious aspect of group games. 

Ped. Sem., vi, 135-151. 
Holmes, Principles of character making, chapter vii. Philadelphia, 

J. B. Lippincott Co. 1913. 
Johnston, Education by plays and games. Boston: Ginn & Co. 
Lee, Play in education. New York: The Maemillan Co. 1915. 
Scott, Social education. Boston: Ginn & Co. 1908. 
Tanner, The child, chapter xix. See bibUography. Chicago: Rand, 

McNally. 1904. 



VI. 

INSTINCTIVE ACTIVITIES OF THE CHILD. 

Instinctive actions are the most numerous and most 
difficult as well as the most important manifestations 
of growing children. Just because they are numer- 
ous and spontaneous, they are so fleeting, so transi- 
tory, and so intimate a part of life that they are over- 
looked or ignored. It is practically impossible to 
devise a test or set of tests to bring them under exact 
control, so that much of the information about them will 
necessarily be what is caught at random by close 
association with the child. Nearly all writers group 
too many activities under the heads of what they call 
an instinct. For example, play is usually given as 
an instinct. Play is instinctive, but is better regarded 
as activity based on instincts or as the form which 
all instincts take when they show themselves. What 
the child plays presents the instinctive element rather 
than the fact of playing being an instinct. In the 
same way, students should try to discriminate the 
characteristic stages and elements in curiosity, imita- 
tion, socialinstincts, rather than to merely name these 
as so many instincts. Imitation, for example, is 
always relative to the child^s stage of growth and has 
now one meaning and now another. Looking at 
instincts from the point of view of their multiplicity, 
their transitoriness, and their intricacy, we must fol- 
low the child under all circumstances to find them. 
Furthermore, instinctive and spontaneous tendencies 
soon become mixed with experience — the older the 
child becomes, the less purely spontaneous and in- 

21 



22 BEHAVIOR OF AN INDIVIDUAL CHILD 

stinctive are his acts found to be. It is likely that 
instinctive manifestations follow the physical changes 
of the child; therefore, see if you can explain on grounds 
of bodily growth the appearance of the most striking 
of these native tendencies to act. 

Looked at from the point of view of their outlet, 
instinctive actions demand natural conditions and 
natural environments to guide them. Raised in a 
wholly artificial environment, children miss their 
most significant heritage of nature and of activities 
in nature and, at the same time, lose their only chance 
to lay a foundation of solid experience on which to 
build the superstructure of ideas and culture. Free- 
dom to act in instinctive ways is essential to both 
physical and mental growth. Control of children 
comes naturally through the demands made upon 
them to react to the world in which they find themselves, 
so that we always have the power to use and direct 
their native instinctive responses in fortunate or 
unfortunate du-ections. The playground, gymna- 
sium, the school garden, the shop and laboratory are 
places where these demands to act have their proper 
fulfillment and their proper direction. Watch the 
child in these places for his spontaneous reactions. 

Study Outline. 

1. Name all spontaneous activities which you ob- 
serve in child — ^watch him play, alone and with others, 
keep track of his likes and his aversions. 

2. Describe in full the manner in which such activ- 
ities reveal themselves, showing when and under 
what circumstances. 

3. Distinguish between instincts and interests. 
(The latter are derived from personal experience.) 



INSTINCTIVE ACTIVITIES 23 

Note all such activities separately. Note transitions 
from instincts to interests. 

4. Study and classify objects which child seeks, or 
craves, or creates — such as places of nature, pets, 
companions, weapons, etc. 

5. Relate instinctive activities to growth, as shown 
in study I. 

6. Distinguish between instincts of boys and girls 
— whether they show identical traits, are equally 
strong and lead to same ends. 

7. Note all changes in spontaneous activities in 
child while you are studying him — how long they 
persist, whether they die or go into some other form, 
what effects they leave on character. 

8. Relation of child's instincts to school work — help 
or hindrance. 

9. Relation of instincts to discipline of child — un- 
ruly, submissive, quiet, boisterous, open or secretive. 

10. Devise situations or experiments to bring out 
or modify instincts. 

Suggestive Reading. 

AcHER, Spontaneous constructions and primitive activities of children 

analogous to those of primitive man. Am. Jour. Psy., Jan., 

1910. 
Angell, Psychology, chapters xv and xvi. New York: Henry Holt 

Co. 4 ed. 1908. 
Bolton, Principles of education, chapter viii. New York: Charles 

Scribner's Sons. 1911. 
BuRK, The collecting instinct. Ped. Sem. viii, pp. 179-207. Also in 

Aspects of child life and education, pp. 205-240. 
CoLviN AND Bagley, Human behavior, chapters viii, ix, x. New York : 

The MacmiUan Co. 1913. 
Gesell, The normal child and primary education, chapter vi. Boston: 

Ginn & Co. 
Holmes, Principles of character making, chapter v. Philadelphia: 

J. B. Lippincott Co. 1913. 
James, Psychology, vol. ii, chapter xxiv. New York: Henry Holt & Co. 
Lee, Play in education, chapters ii-iv. New York: The MacmiUan 

Co. 1915. 



24 BEHAVIOR OF AN INDIVIDUAL CHILD 

LoEB, Comparative physiology of brain, chapter xiii. New York. 1900. 

MacDougall, Social psychology. Boston. Luce & Co. 1908. 

McManis, Children's instincts. Educ. Bi-Mon., Feb., April, 1913. 

Morgan, histinct and experience, chapters i-ii. New York: The 
Macmillan Co. 1912. 

Myers, Morgan, Carr, Stuart, MacDougall, Instinct and intel- 
ligence. British Jour. Psych., iii, p. 109 ff. 

Parmelee, The science of human behavior, chapters xi, xii, xiii. New 
York: The Macmillan Co. 1913. 

Partridge, Outline of individual study, chapter ix. 

Pyle, The outline of educational psychology, chapters iv-ix. Balti- 
more: Warwick & York. 1911. 

Swift, Youth and the race, chapter i. New York: Charles Scribner's 
Sons. 1912. 

Tanner, The child, chapter xiii. See bibliography. 

Thorndike, The original nature of man. New York: Teachers Col- 
lege, Columbia Univ. 1913. 

Veblen, The instinct of workmanship, chapter i. New York: The 
Macmillan Co. 1914. 



VII. 

OUTSIDE INTERESTS AND ACTIVITIES OF 
THE CHILD. 

In play and instincts we have studied inner strivings 
and characteristic native reactions, and we need now 
to direct our attention to the world outside of these 
tendencies, to the forces which give them form and per- 
manency. Companionship, play places, regular haunts, 
associations, and childish occupations determine the 
kinds of experiences and habits which life will fix upon 
the growing child. Whether the boy becomes thief 
or honest man depends mainly upon slight variations 
in direction of his native demands determined by 
outside conditions and influences. Home surround- 
ings, as already noted, determine for the most part 
these matters of companionship and employment. 
There is need, however, for grouping under a separate 
head all the associations and relations of the child. 
Begin your study with his interest in his companions 
and find out all you can of them. Get in on as many 
of their mutual sympathies and secrets as you can 
without violating his confidence. (By way of cau- 
tion, remember that if you keep friendship between 
yourself and the child uppermost, you will need to 
respect most fully his rights in such matters as com- 
panionship ; but on the other hand, the closer and more 
frank and honest you are with him, the more valuable 
will be your insight into his realm of confidences and 
intimacies. He will quite readily discuss important 
matters with people he trusts.) Study too his treas- 
ures, his creations, his plans, and any phase of his life 
which he considers important. 

25 



26 BEHAVIOR OF AN INDIVIDUAL CHILD 

In groups or gangs you will find the most vital 
influences in the character of the growing child. 
Strive to know the group as an organization. Study 
also the efforts being made in various quarters to 
control organizations such as Boy Scouts or Camp- 
fire Girls. Loyalty to group interests is to be highly 
prized and not violated by an outsider, therefore, use 
great care in dealing with the group. Guidance of 
the child will be most effective through guidance of 
the group to which he belongs. It is necessary, 
therefore, to understand the kind of group you are 
dealing with, the place of meeting, the aims, and the 
standards which control it. If one can provide all of 
these things for the group, one can readily manage 
the individual child. 

Next to control of the group comes the determina- 
tion of the child's reading. Select stories that have 
the wholesome element of adventure necessary for 
forming the character of growing boys and girls. 

Study Outline. 

1. Companionship of child: adults, and children; 
playmates; chums, their ages, sex, and character. 
Distinguish between social relationships of younger 
and older children. Watch effects of company on 
child. Is he more contented alone or must he have 
companions? 

2. Play groups, gangs, or clubs: study bonds unit- 
ing the group; distinguish between being in a group 
and being a part of a group. 

3. Numbers of children in groups, places and times 
of meeting, activities carried on by them, cosmopolitan 
or exclusive. 

4. Secrets, signs and formulae of groups. (These 
belong to older children.) 



OUTSIDE INTERESTS 27 

5. Work: motives back of, — pay, pleasure, compe- 
tition, regular or occasional, kinds of work, chores, 
selling papers, or making things. 

6. Workshop and tools — ^inventions and objects 
constructed. 

7. Care for garden, animals, plants or pets and 
attitude toward job. 

8. Care for room, decoration, and property or 
collections. 

9. Trips or excursions, alone or under direction. 

10. Outside reading: classify and give character of 
material read. 

11. Consult parent, teacher, and child on points 
relating to outside interests and activities. 

12. Visit social center and find how to provide for 
children in city. 

Suggestive Reading. 

Addams, The spirit of yovih and the city streets. 

Bernheimer and Cohen, Boys' clubs. New York: The Baker & 
Taylor Co. 1914. 

Buck, Boys' self-governing clubs. New York: The Macmillan Co. 
1912. 

FoRBUSH, The boy problem. Boston: The Pilgrim Press. 1901. 

George, The junior republic. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1912. 

Gruenberg, Your child of today and tomorrow, chapter x. Philadel- 
phia: J. B. Lippineott Co. 1913. 

Hall, The story of a sand pile. In Aspects of child life and education, 
pp. 142-156. Boston: Ginn & Co. 1907. 

Hall, Boy life in a Massachusetts country town forty years ago. In 
Aspects of child life and education, pp. 300-322. 

Hoban, The city street, pp. 451-460. In The child in the city. Chicago. 
1912. 

King, Social aspects of education, chapter xiv. New York: The Mac- 
millan Co. 1914. 

Lindsay, The beast, chapters vi and viii. New York: Doubleday, 
Page & Co. 

Puffer, The boy and his gang. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin Co. 1912. 

Reeder, How two hundred children live and learn. New York. 1909. 

Scott, Social education. Boston: Ginn & Co. 1908. 



VIII. 

SCHOOL LIFE OF THE CHILD. 

Since the school has come to occupy as important a 
part of childhood as it does in the modern city, you 
should endeavor to see your particular child at work 
among others in the school room if you wish to under- 
stand him in all of his relations. Make frequent visits 
to his room during the year. Ask his teacher about 
him; get his standing as she judges him. Find out 
the condition of the school and neighborhood. Get 
his estimate of the school, the teacher, his fellows. 
Estimate the effects of his physical conditions and 
his home life upon his school work and his attitude 
towards it. Children usually soon come to have a 
strictly conventional attitude towards the work of the 
school; they expect to pass or fail in accordance with 
their previous experiences; they like their teachers or 
dislike them; they pursue studies as these are re- 
quired of them and solve problems set by the teacher. 
When this attitude is carried for any length of time, 
children become apathetic regarding going to school, 
or they become actively opposed to the entire matter. 
Note carefully in this particular whether initiative is 
fostered and cultivated. Find out the work liked best 
and try to determine what it is that commends this 
work to the child. Note whether school life means 
growth in bodily power, in ability to judge in prac- 
tical situations, and in moral stamina. Is the school 
encouraging this child to form definite plans for his 
own futiu-e and does he work in school to satisfy 
this ambition? It is desirable to know how he spends 
his time out of school in studying school subjects, 

28 



SCHOOL LIFE 29 

whether he shows zeal and energy in this outside 
work or whether it is a bore to him. 

After carefully studying the methods used in test- 
ing school subjects try some one of these on the work 
of the child. Grade his work and compare your 
grading with that of his teacher on this particular 
line of work. Do you think that the school is reach- 
ing the best there is in this child? If not, find out the 
reason for the difficulty and try to remedy it. If he 
is doing well in school, study to determine the ele- 
ments of success. Try to see the school through the 
eyes of this particular child. 

Report on School Life. 

1. Name and size of school 

2. Location of school and character of surrounding 
community: quiet, noisy, car lines, business districts 
or residence section, etc. 

3. His grade in school 

4. Number of children in grade 

In school 

5. Teacher and her attitude towards child — her 
interest in him, her knowledge of his interests, nature, 
condition, and what she says of his work. 

6. Attitude of child to school, companions, and 
teacher — is he happy in his school relations? 

7. Subject in which best or poorest by teacher's 
report and his own report. 

8. Any failures Length of time in grades 

In various schools. 

9. Regularity of attendance — explanation of irregu- 
larities, health, etc. 

10. Influence, if any, of outside interests on school 
work. 

11. Child's ambition or desire for school, or his 
aversion for it. 



30 BEHAVIOR OF AN INDIVIDUAL CHILD 

12. Character of school room 

(a) Heating Study and test 

(b) Lighting Source and amount 

(c) Ventilation Test 

(d) Equipment: seats — does his properly fit him? 
Decorations, plants, pets — part he has in these things. 

13. Facilities in school for play — gymnasium, play 
ground, swimming-pool; luncheons, cooking and sew- 
ing departments; shops, etc. 

14. Tests for school subjects: find out some prac- 
tical test for his ability in a school subject — ^reading, 
rate and understanding, tests, arithmetic, spelling, pen- 
manship, composition. 

Suggestive Reading. 

B AGLET, School discipline, chapter xiii. New York: The Macmillan 
Co. 1914. 

Baldwin, Standardization. Educ. Bi-Mon., June, 1915. See bibli- 
ography. 

Cook, The child and his spelling. IndianapoHs: Bobbs-Merrill Co. 
1914. 

Courtis, Tests in arithmetic and reading. 

Courtis, Measurements of growth and efficiency in arithmetic. El. Sch. 
Tr., x: 55-74, 177-199; xi: 171-185, 350-370, 528-539; xii: 
172-179. 

Dknison, Helping school children. New York: Harper & Bros. 1912. 

Dewey, School and society. Chicago. The Univ. of Chi. 1900. 

Dresslar, School hygiene, chapters iv-xiv. New York: The Mac- 
millan Co. 1913. 

Gesell, The normal child and primary education, pp. 125-256. 

Hall, Educational problems. 2 vols. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 
1911. 

King, Social aspects of education, chapter xv. 

Manuel, The use of an objective scale for grading handwriting. El. 
Sch. Jour., Jan., 1915. 

Scott, Social education, chapters i, ii, iii, iv. 

Starch, The measurement of efficiency in reading, writing, spelling, 
and English. Madison, Wis.: The Univ. Book Store. 1914. 

Terman, Hygiene of the school child. 

Wallin, Spelling efficiency in relation to age, grade, and sex, and the 
question of transfer. Baltimore: Warwick & York, Inc. 

Whipple, Manual of mental and physical tests. 

Young, Isolation in the school, pp. 13-44. Chicago: The Univ. of 
Chicago. 1901. 



IX. 

MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS AND DISPOSI- 
TION OF THE CHILD. 

Responses of the child which involve feeling, im- 
agery, inferences, generalizations, decisions, and choices 
should be noted and recorded carefully. Watch for 
marks of disposition, mood, and temperament in the 
child's attitude towards others. Classify all such 
observations and try to interpret their underlying 
causes. In connection with all of his work try to see 
how far he is actuated by ideas and mental consider- 
ations explicitly worked out. Test the child's mem- 
ory, his information, and also his power to meet new 
conditions. Be sure to distinguish between the abil- 
ity to remember and the ability to solve new problems. 
Puzzles in the form of games will serve as tests for 
both of these abilities. The child's memory for arith- 
metic facts can be set over against his power to solve 
new problems. Study carefully every mark of the 
child's emotional nature, his feeling for objects, his 
enthusiasms and his pet notions. 

In studying the mental characteristics of children 
it is necessary to determine the relations between these 
characteristics and their physical conditions, their 
home life, and training, their plays and games, and 
their experiences in school. Physical conditions are 
of the utmost importance in judging mental capacity 
and peculiarities. Children with well nourished bodies, 
with happy, open lives, have great advantage over 
children in whom these are wanting. Work out as 
fully as possible all the connections you can between 
the outside life of the child and his ability to think. 

31 



32 BEHAVIOR OF AN INDIVIDUAL CHILD 

The mental tests usually given are satisfactory in 
standardizing the mental powers of the child only as 
they are taken in connection with a knowledge of him 
in all his relations. Some of these tests are mainly 
verbal and miss most of the important manifestations 
of mental power. All highly developed tests are valu- 
able only in the hands of trained experimenters, and 
for that reason should be used only tentatively by 
observers not so trained. 

Study Outline. 

1. Classify as bright, witty, clever, dull, inventive 
and original, or lacking in these qualities : give concrete 
material to show your classification. 

2. Emotional character: easily stirred or insensitive, 
sympathetic. 

3. Give several examples of emotional outbursts, 
such as anger, joy, sorrow. 

4. Bashful, timid, bold. 

5. Excitable, or staid and phlegmatic. 

6. Easily led, suggestible, or independent and self- 
rehant. 

7. Sociable, confiding, or exclusive and indifferent. 

8. Domineering and bullying with others, or meek 
and submissive. 

9. Headstrong and opinionated, or teachable. 

10. Persevering or fickle in undertakings and inter- 
ests. 

11. Strong likes and dislikes for persons and things. 

12. As in previous study — find rating in class at 
school on above points. 

13. Compare for maturity of ideas and independ- 
ence with other children. 



MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS 33 

14. Relate mental characteristics and disposition 
to previous studies. 

15. Find out his ideals and plans when he grows up. 

16. Make mental tests: use as many tests as you 
can to determine the age and maturity of child. 

Suggestive Reading. 

Barnes, Studies in education. First and second series. Philadelphia: 

Barnes. 1902. 
BiNET-SiMON, A method of measuring the development of the intelligence 

of young children. Town. Lincoln, Illinois. 1913. 
Bruce, Psychology and parenthood, chapter viii. New York: Dodd, 

Mead & Co. 1915. 
ClaparEde, Experimental pedagogy, pp. 169-204. 
Dewey, Mental development. Vol. IV. Transactions of Illinois 

Society for child study. 
Hall, Contents of children's minds on entering school. In Aspects of 

child life and education, chapter i. 
Gruenberg, Your child today and tomorrow, chapters iii, viii, xi. 
Holmes, School organization and the individual child, pp. 88-123; 154- 

178. Worcester, Mass. 1912. 
KiRKPATRicK, The individual in the making, chapters v-viii. Boston: 

Houghton, Mifflin Co. 
Montessori, The Montessori method, chapter v. New York: Stokes, 

1912. 
Partridge, Outline of individual study, pp. 103-127. 
Pyle, The examination of school children. 
Rusk, The introduction to experimental education, chapters iv, v, vi, vii, 

viii. 
Stern, The psychological method of testing intelligence. Baltimore. 

Warwick & York. 1914. See bibhography. 
Sully, Studies in childhood. New York: Appleton & Co. 1908. 
Swift, Mind in the making, chapter iii. New York: Charles Scrib- 

ner's Sons. 1908. 
Terman and Childs, a tentative revision and extension of the Binet- 

Simon measuring scale of intelligence. Jour. Ed. Psych., 

Feb., 1912. 
Thorndike, Theory of social and mental measurement. New York: 

Teachers College. 1913. 
Whipple, Manual of mental and physical tests. Bibhography. 



X. 

LEARNING PROCESS OF THE CHILD. 

The ability of the child to learn can be adequately 
judged only after careful study and investigation. Of 
course, rough estimates can always be made and 
often these are the basis of promotion in school. 
Ultimately, what the person can do must be the criter- 
ion of his learning ability. We should be able, how- 
ever, to find out definitely his best capacity under the 
very best and most exact conditions that can be pro- 
vided. In finding out this capacity the student will 
be required to work regularly and persistently with 
the child along some line of learning. The general 
nature of the learning process will be studied in con- 
nection with this work and a comparison of the child's 
work with that of others will be made. Much atten- 
tion must be given to individual peculiarities in learn- 
ing because each one has his own individual method 
and power. It is desirable to plan a piece of work 
especially for testing the learning power of the child. 
Since great differences in learning ability depend 
upon previous training and experiences, investigation 
should be directed to habits of learning and training 
along specific fines of study. Help should be offered 
him with regard to economical methods of learning 
and incentives for acquiring good methods of study. 
Modes of attacking work, developing plans for prose- 
cuting the task, habits of looking for essentials and 
omitting non-essentials, systematizing the results as 
rapidly as possible, connecting results and methods 
with previous experiences are some of the steps to be 
taught in economical learning. 

34 



LEARNING PROCESS OF THE CHILD 35 

Learning ability varies with age and maturity, though 
the curve of abihty seems to fluctuate rather than to 
increase gradually. Power of concentration, resistance 
to fatigue, adaptability to conditions, suggestibility, 
and persistence in attack, are dependent in large 
measure on the child's stage of growth. In prepar- 
ing tasks for investigating the learning process, age, 
therefore, must enter into the selection of the materials 
and the standards applied to results. Young children 
are not only interested in things of a different nature 
from what older ones are, but are also capable of 
learning different subjects at different rates. ^^ Strike 
while the iron is hof is particularly applicable to the 
kind of task set for the individual child. Much time 
and energy are often lost by attempting to force learn- 
ing upon the child for which he is not ready. Like- 
wise the child doubtless falls far short, at times, of 
reaching his full capabilities in learning. 

Study Outline. 

1. Note whether child learns new things easily or 
with difficulty. 

2. How well he remembers the things learned. 

3. Note imitation of others in learning; character- 
ize imitations. 

4. How far he is suggestible and teachable. 

5. His willingness to try and his persistence. 

6. Power to attend and concentrate. 

7. Ease or difficulty in getting started on new prob- 
lems. 

8. Power to use habits already formed in new 
problems. 

9. Ability to infer and use evidence. 

10. Ability to generalize and see relationships. 
IL Tests for learning process: 



36 BEHAVIOR OF AN INDIVIDUAL CHILD 

(a) Teach child something and note steps in learn- 
ing. 

(b) Trace his curve of learning. 

(c) Compare and contrast this curve with some 
other learning curve. 

(d) Note child's ability to economize as he goes on. 

(e) Apply memory tests in this process. 

(f) Note evidences of fatigue and explain each 
case fully. 

12. Check up learning ability of child with former 
studies — how he is like others or different from them 
in this respect. 

13. Note effects of success or failure on child's 
learning ability. 

Suggestive Reading. 

Arai, Mental fatigue. New York. 1912. 

Ashley, The acquisition of skill. Educ. Bi-Mon., Feb., 1912, 

Book, Psychology of skill. University of Montana. 1908. 

CoLViN, The learning process, chapters i, ii, iii. New York: The Mac- 
millan Co. 1912. 

CoLViN AND Bagley, Human behavior, chapters ii, xi, xvii. 

Clapare^de, Experimental pedagogy, chapter v. 

Earhart, Teaching children to study. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin 
Co. 

Kirkpatrick, Genetic psychology, chapter x. New York: The Mac- 
millan Co. 1909. 

McMuRRY, How to study and teaching how to study. Boston: Hough- 
ton, Mifflin Co. 

Meumann, The psychology of learning. New York: D. Appleton & 
Co. 1913. 

Meyer, The fundamental laws of human behavior, lectures vii, xvii. 
Boston: Richard G. Badger. 

Offner, Mental fatigue. Baltimore: Warwick & York, Inc. 1911. 

O'Shea, Dynamic factors in education, chapter x. New York, The 
MacMiUan Co. 1906. 

RowE, Habit formation and the science of teaching. New York: Long- 
mans, Green & Co. 1911. 

Rusk, Introduction to experimental education, chapter xiii. 

Swift, Learning and doing. Indianapohs: Bobbs-Merrill Co. 1914. 

Swift, Mind in the making, chapter vi. 

Thorndike, Educational Psychology, Volume III, chapter iii. New 
York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1914. 

Whipple, Manual of mental and physical tests. 

WooDwoRTH AND Ladd, Elements of phys. psych., Part second, chap- 
ter viii. New York: Chas. Scribner's Sons. 



XI. 
LANGUAGE OF THE CHILD. 

The language of the growing child forms an import- 
ant means for finding out his experiences and his needs. 
It should be remembered, however, that language is 
but one form of reaction, and a form that is so elusive 
and subtle that it can be easily misunderstood in 
interpreting the child. Because a child can use a 
given word, one must not jump to the conclusion that 
he has the identical meaning that we possess when we 
use that word. Words are always relative to growth 
and experience and are not safely studied apart from 
other forms of life. Be sure to relate as far as possible 
the language used by the child to what you see of him 
in other situations. It may be found that a child 
has two or three distinct vocabularies to use, one for 
his companions on the playground, another for his 
teacher, and a third for his mother at home. Each 
vocabulary has its own merits and limitations and 
meanings, and so long as it is kept for its own occasion 
and context he may succeed in satisfying all parties, 
while mixing the languages may cause him trouble. 
Note carefully the value of each of these forms of 
speech for the real living interests of the child. See 
if he has not a greater degree of interest and force in 
the life expressed by the street and playground lang- 
uage than for that of the other relations. 

In connection with this study an effort should be 
made to collect dictionaries and secret languages made 
and used by children. Secret languages and signs for 

37 



38 BEHAVIOK OF AN INDIVIDUAL CHILD 

their expressions are very common for some ages of 
child hfe. They give the significance of language as a 
social medium in its most effective sense. Nearly 
always such secret languages and signs belong to an 
age when gangs and chumming are common activities. 
The child's language of this sort is for his own private 
correspondence and conveys his own meanings. On 
the basis of such a language much might be done in 
the way of building up a real interest in speech as a 
social tool. Letters and letter-writing could be de- 
veloped from such an interest in secret language. In 
the same way, dramatic activities carry with them 
valuable hints for language learning. It is too often 
supposed that speech is more important to the child 
than action in these dramatic representations, but 
often the contrary is the case, and certainly the prefer- 
ence is hkely to be that of the small boy in a children's 
performance who said: ^^I prefer to be a tree in the 
act and wave my arms for the branches." Language 
ought to give one a most valuable clue to many of 
the vital desires of the child, and its study should be 
undertaken with that in mind. 

Report on the Language of the Child. 

1. Note relation of language of child to home life, 
to companionship, and to school training. 

2. Try to estimate the relative influence of each of 
these on his use of language 

3. Note effects of child's reading on his language: 
vocabulary, sentence structure, readiness of speech. 

4. Trace periods of special language interests: 

(a) Speech efforts and articulation of young child. 

(b) Rhyme and rhythm, interest in jingles and 
sounds 



LANGUAGE OF THE CHILD 39 

(c) Practice of pronouncing words to self before 
speaking them aloud. 

(d) Secret language and signs used for communica- 
tion. 

(e) Interest in collecting new words, and making 
dictionaries. 

(f) Debating and disputing, use of flowery speech, 
etc. 

5. Study intelligence of child in use of speech: 
kinds of connectives, forms of sentence showing con- 
tinuity of thought. 

6. Find out through tests how words get meaning 
to the child. 

7. Arrange tests for (a) range of vocabulary, (b) 
for numbers of different words used to express a given 
meaning. 

8. Make lists of slang words used by child and find 
out source and value of such expressions 

9. Collect stories, poems or dramatic plays com- 
posed or written by child and find out relationship of 
these to reading or to things heard or to plays seen . . 



10. Note the presence of special talent for language 
and how it is shown. 

11. Make a list of the books and stories read. 

12. Note any defects of speech and study means 
for correcting. 

Suggestive Reading. 

Barnes, How words get content. Studies in education, series ii, p. 43. 

See also other references on language in series i and ii. 
Chamberlain, The child and childhood in folk-thought, chapters xv 

and xvii. New York: The Macmillan Co. 1896. 
Dewey, How we think, chapter xiii. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co. 

1910. 
Gesell, The normal child and primary education, chapters xi-xii. 



40 BEHAVIOE OF AN INDIVIDUAL CHILD 

Hall, Contents of children's minds on entering school. See Aspects of 
child life and education, pp. 1-52. 

JuDD, Psychology. Chapter X on language. New York: Charles 
Scribner's Sons. 1907. 

Major, First steps in mental growth, chapter xv. New York: The 
MacmiUan Co. 1907. 

Mead, The age of walking and talking in relation to general intelligence. 
Ped. Sem. xx, p. 460. 1913. 

MoNTESSORi, The Montessori method, chapter xviii. New York: F. 
A. Stokes Co. 1912. 

Morgan, Psychology for teachers, chapter vii. New York: Chas. 
Scribner's Sons. 1906. 

O'Shea, Linguistic development and education. New York: The Mac- 
miUan Co. 1907. 

ScHULZE, Experimental psychology and pedagogy, p. 149. 

Scripture, Stuttering and lisping. New York: The MacmiUan Co. 
1912. 

Sully, Studies in childhood, chapter v. 

Thatcher, Speech defects in childhood and early adolescence, chapter 
x in Defective children by Kelynack. New York: Wm, 
Wood & Co. 1915. 

Welton, Logical bases of education, chapter iii. London: The Mac- 
miUan Co. 1901. 



XII. 

DRAWING OF THE CHILD. 

Drawing is one of the spontaneous activities of 
childhood and is closely allied to other spontaneous 
activities, including speech. In all the studies of 
children's drawings a close relationship is indicated 
between the forms of the drawing and the growth of 
the children in power to form images and ideas. The 
objects selected to be drawn by them are active living 
ones, as shown in the earliest attempts to represent 
things. An ^'engine" is essentially an active creature, 
as evidenced by the wreath of smoke which stands 
for the flying object. It is much easier to begin the 
teaching of drawing through the story element simply 
because drawing is essentially a language of action. 
Illustrative of the story, a drawing may portray each 
part in detail, placing each in its separate relation, 
irrespective of whether or not the eye can follow the 
realitj^ of the subject; or, the drawing may select its 
materials and organize them to suit the plan of the 
story; or, finally, it may exaggerate any part in order 
to show the importance which this part occupies in 
the mind of the artist. In the early stages of drawing, 
the child's work is purely representative and symbol- 
ical of the feelings which he possesses in his own mind, 
and therefore, to require the little child to draw from 
some present model is to miss his interest in telling a 
story as he sees it. The results are always incongru- 
ous but significant of the mental stage of the artist. 
Later in his work the child throws great stress on that 
part of the incident which impresses him most strongly, 
which, again, shows his mental growth. 

41 



42 BEHAVIOR OF AN INDIVIDUAL CHILD 

'^Cataloguing'^ of details, as Barnes calls it, is a 
striking peculiarity of the seven year old child's draw- 
ing. Later still, the young artist undertakes to create 
an exact reproduction of the object as it is before^ him. 
At such a stage in growth he is susceptible to cultiva- 
tion in drawing in its technical aspect and should 
have the best of training. Cartoons are typical work 
of boys and girls of the upper grade period and repre- 
sent a distinct advance both in technique and in abil- 
ity to see peculiar and unique parts and elements in 
the object about them, for which they invent or use 
symbols of drawing. Almost contemporaneous with 
this interest in cartoons comes the appreciative and 
decorative efforts of children. Children are no longer 
satisfied with the merely accurate representation nor 
with the exaggeration, but demand a thing of beauty. 
They begin to idealize their object and to touch it up 
for its own effects. 

In all of these peculiar stages in the growth of the 
interest in drawing, one must provide the fullest op- 
portunities for expression. Like every other interest 
in childhood, drawing obviously changes with growth 
and is never twice the same thing. It is much better 
to encourage the child to do the work he is trying, no 
matter how crude, than it is to attempt to break in 
upon him with wholly new and strange kinds of ex- 
pression. On the other hand, it is necessary always 
to lead him on to higher forms of appreciation and 
expression, because to allow him to remain at one 
level too long is to dull his capacity to grow. Watch 
carefully the efforts he makes to draw and start train- 
ing at that particular point. Work his own experi- 
ences into his drawings so that drawing may come to 
stand for an idealization of the life he knows. 



drawing of the child 43 

Study Outline. 

1. Make collection of the child's drawings and 
study carefully. 

2. What motives seem to inspire his efforts in draw- 
ing? 

3. Relationship of his drawings to other experi- 
ences — what he has seen, done, or plans to do 

4. Are his drawings plans for action, mere pictorial 
expressions of impulses, or representations of ideas, 
and do they tell some story? 

5. Study technique and skill shown in his drawings. 

6. Note how far intelligence enters into his draw- 
ings : outhne, details, proportions and values 

7. Watch for any possible talent in drawings . . . 

8. Study attitude of child toward drawing as a 
school subject and note his likes or dislikes f or it . . . . 

9. Compare work in drawing with child's work in 
other lines 

10. Compare his drawing with studies on drawings 
of other children 

11. Compare spontaneous drawings with his work 
as directed in school 

12. Devise tests to show ability of child to draw 
and compare your tests with those devised by others. 

Suggestive Reading. 

Ayer, Psychology of drawing. Baltimore: Warwick & York, Inc. 1916. 

Barnes, Studies in education. Many references in Series I and IT. 
Brown, Notes on children's drawing. University of California Studies. 

Volume II. 
Child, Measurement of drawing ability of 2177 children. Jour. Educ. 

Psych., September, 1915. 



44 BEHAVIOR OF AN INDTVIDUAL CHILD 

Clark, Children's ideas of perspective. Barnes, Studies in education, 

Series I, pp. 283 ff. 
Dewey, The elementary school record, Number one. The University 

of Chicago. February, 1900. 
FiscHLOViTZ, Inductive studies of abilities involved in drawing. Columbia 

University Contributions to Philosophy, Psych. & Educ, Vol. 

XI. 
Gesell, The normal child and primary education, chapter ix. 
Hall, Educational problems, volume ii, chapter xx. 
Kelley's Teachers' marks — Conclusions from application of Thorndike's 

scale. 
Major, First steps in mental growth, chapter iii. 
Sargent, Fine and industrial arts in elementary schools, pp. 32-46. 

Boston: Ginn & Co. 
Schulze, Experimental psychology and pedagogy,^^p. 152. 
Sully, Studies in childhood, chapter ix-x. 
Tanner, The child, chapter xviii. See bibliography. 
Thorndike, Measurement of drawing. Teachers' College Record, 

November, 1913. Volume 14. 



XIII. 

MOVEMENTS AND MOTOR ABILITY OF THE 

CHILD. 

From the beginning of life the child moves. By- 
movement he grows and takes on adult form and 
characteristics. The fact that schools of present day 
are attempting to provide for activities on a large 
scale, is in line with an understanding of the import- 
ance of movements in the life of the growing child. 
We are yet far from a perfect realization in practice 
of the importance of free movement and of the possi- 
bilities for education of such an arrangement. Close 
observation of movements already noted under play, 
instinctive activities, the learning process, language, 
and drawing will reveal the points called for in this 
study. All such movements should be collected and 
classified under the head of ^^ motor control.^' Note 
the conditions under which the child makes his most 
effective movements. Find out if possible whether 
the time of day has any influence upon his action and 
control. Relate movements as far as you can to 
motives on the one hand and to habits on the other. 
Keep a careful diary of the acts of the child. Notice 
how much more quickly he tires where movements 
are forced upon him, than in occupations chosen by 
himself. Why is this so? See also if you can discover 
the effects of monotonous movements as compared 
with new and difficult work in their effects upon 
fatigue. In making tests for motor capacity it is 
necessary to adopt definite standards for measuring 
results, such as surplus movements, rate of move- 
ments, precision, and strength. 

45 



46 BEHAVIOR OF AN INDIVIDUAL CHILD 

Some movements are large, crude, and strong, while 
others are finer, more delicate, and indicate skill. By 
some writers the first class is designated as ^^funda- 
mental movements" and the latter as '^accessory." 
Fundamental movements belong to the earher years 
of childhood, though they have periods of prominence 
all through the growing age. Skill is based upon 
strength, and is, therefore, a product of later growth 
and training. In studying the child it is desirable 
to trace the growth of these two forms of movement 
and to attemi)t to provide exercises appropriate to 
the growth of each. 

Study Outline. 

1. Note movements in play and work — skillful, 
awkward, quick, slow, impulsive, left-handed, ambi- 
dextrous. 

2. General movements of the body: good or poor 
control, well co-ordinated, intelhgent, purposeful or 
random and aimless, slovenly or slouchy, strong, firm, 
weak, faltering or definite and effective. 

3. Power of endurance, strength and precision. 

4. Note walking: shambling or regular, quick, 
nervous, slow, precise. 

5. Speech characteristics: articulation, good or 
defective, hurried and indistinct, or deliberate and 
clear; effects of excitement on speech, high pitched or 
low voice. 

6. Posture, standing and sitting: erect, crumpled, 
amount of effort required to keep erect, restless, 
quiet. 

7. Peculiar movements: face, eyes, mouth and 
tongue, hands, fingers. Note over-mobility and mul- 
tiplicity of movements. 



MOTOR ABILITY 47 

8. Tests: strength of grip, endurance, rate of 
tapping, steadiness, control in balancing, aiming, and 
tracing (much of this can be seen in child's writing, 
drawing, running and other activities). 

9. Contrive a task in work or play and note the 
exact number of movements, practice until these are 
reduced to minimum. 

10. Classify movements as fundamental and ac- 
cessory or combinations. 

Suggestive Reading. 

Book, Psychology of skill. 

Bryan, On the development of voluntary motor ability. Am. Jour. Psy. 

Volume V, 125. 
BuRK, From fundamental to accessory. Ped. Sem. volume vi, pp. 

1-60. 
Cornell, Health and medical inspection, pp. 331-338. 
Davenport, Education for efficiency, chapter iv. Boston: D. C. 

Heath & Co. 1909. 
Gesell, The normal child and primary education, chapter vii. 
Hall, Adolescence, volume I, chapter iii. 
Partridge, Outline of individual study, pp. 85-91. 
Swift, Learning and doing. IndianapoUs : The Bobbs-Merrill Co. 
Tanner, The child, chapter xiv. 

Terman, The hygiene of the school child, chapters vii, xvi, xvii. 
Thorndike, Principles of teaching, chapters xiii-xiv. New York: A. G. 

Seller. 1906. 
Warner, The study of children, chapter v. 
Whipple, Manuul of mental and physical tests. See directions for 

tests. 



XIV. 
MORAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHILD. 

We are prone to judge children's moral character by- 
adult standards. Likewise we are prone to overlook 
the deepest and most abiding elements in their lives — 
their sorrows, their loves, their hates, and their ambi- 
tions. It is an obvious impossibility for us to enter 
into the child's world of aspirations, fears, and points 
of view, and, consequently, dangerous for us to at- 
tempt to impose our adult morality literally upon 
him. Democracy demands that the right of each 
to judge for himself and to act upon his judgment 
must be respected. It is customary to accept this 
doctrine of democracy for all cases except those of 
children. How often have we in our smug assumption 
of infallibility made judgments for om- children and 
subsequently been chagrined by discovering ourselves 
in the wrong! Growth of moral character depends 
upon the individual's right and opportunity to make 
selections and to stick to them until he reaches some 
conclusion, good or bad. This implies that children 
should be allowed to try for themselves, to make 
mistakes and to be encouraged to correct them. It is 
possible to accord this right to them if we take care 
that their judgments are made within the limits of a 
child's world of persons and realities. 

Watch closely the meaning of temptations on the 
child. Meet the child on the level of frankness, hon- 
esty, and confidence, and he will return like respect 

48 



MOEAL CHARACTERISTICS 49 

to you. It is not necessary that one be visionary 
and without firmness to deal on this level with a child. 
Unless honesty pervade your dealing with him, your 
work will avail you very little and will be harmful to him. 
In his school work find out his standards for judging 
and acting in his relation with others. Why do chil- 
dren sometimes cheat on examinations? What effects 
have ^' marks'^ on their sense of responsibility? On 
playground watch for evidences of spontaneous acts 
possessing honorable or dishonorable tendencies. Try 
to formulate the standards of conduct which the 
child uses in dealing with his elders, with compan- 
ions, and with himself. These standards are his 
foundation for character. They should change with 
his growth in power of comprehension and of re- 
sponsibility. Help him thus to formulate standards 
of conduct that will enlarge his horizon and enable 
him to see more clearly the values of life as he grows 
to meet them. 

Study Outline. 

1. Note cases of fairness and honesty in play and 
work, straightforwardness and bravery. 

2. Record acts of deception, lies, concealment, sly- 
ness, cowardice. 

3. Note also cheating in any form. 

4. Note evidences of ill-temper, lack of self-control, 
quarrelsomeness . 

5. Stubbornness, sulkiness, pouting, peevishness, or 
fits of jealousy. 

6. Perversions of any sort — fears, morbidness, ma- 
nias. 

7. Watch for kindhness, sympathy, unselfishness, 
self-sacrifice. 



50 BEHAVIOR OF AN INDIVIDUAL CHILD 

8. Study and report cases of loyalty. 

9. Cases of vanity, conceit, boastfulness, and brag- 
ging. 

10. Sense of responsibility, trustworthiness. 

11. Sticking to some principle under all circum- 
stances. 

12. Discover any ideals of conduct and righteous- 
ness which child has. 

13. Study the persons the child admires and imi- 
tates. 

14. Character of stories he reads or hears and likes — 
moral, immoral or unmoral in quality. 

15. Sense of right and wrong, remorse and shame 
for wrong doing. 

16. Test moral ideas by stories or pictures, and plan 
situations which allow you to judge of sense of honesty 
and fairness. 

17. Classify all actions which you think have moral 
quality under head of moral conduct. 

18. Note whether child tends to justify himself 
because ''some one else did it.^^ 

Suggestive Reading. 

Barnes, Studies in education. First and second series. 

Bolton, Principles of education, chapter xxvii, 

BouTROUX, Education and ethics. New York: The Macmillan Co. 

1913. 
Bruce- Wiener, The education of Karl Witte, chapter xvi. New York: 

T. Y. CroweU & Co., 1914. 
Coffin, The socialized conscience. Baltimore: Warwick & York. 

1913. 
Dewey, Moral principles in education. Boston: Houghton, MiflSin 

Co. 1909. 
Dewey and Tufts, Ethics. New York: Henry Holt & Co. 1908. 
Drake, Problems of conduct. Boston. 1914. 
Groszmann, The career of the child, chapter xix. Boston. Richard 

G. Badger. 
Gruenberg, Your child today and tomorrow, chapters ii, iv, vii. 
Hall, Youth, chapter xii. New York: Appleton & Co. 1906. 



MORAL CHARACTERISTICS 51 

Hall, Children's lies. Fed. Sem. 1891, pp. 211-218. See also 

Educational problems, volume I, chapter vi. New York: 

Appleton. 1911. 
Holmes, Principles of character making, chapter xii. 
King, Psychology of child development, chapters xi-xiv. Chicago: 

Univ. of Chicago. 
MacDougall, Social psijchology, chapter ix. 
Moral training in the public schools. California prize essays. Boston 5 

Ginn & Co. 
Pyle, The outline of educational psychology, chapter xii. Baltimore: 

Warwick & York, Inc. 
Rusk, Introduction to experimental education, pp. 124-133. 
ScHOFF, The wayward child, chapter i. 
Scott, Social education, chapter xii. 
Sully, Studies in childhood, chapters vii-viii. 
SissoN, The essentials of character. New York: The Macmillan Co. 

1910. 
Tanner, The child, chapter x. See bibhography. 
Young, Ethics in the school. Chicago: The University of Chicago* 

1902. 



XV. 
THE EXCEPTIONAL CHILD. 

Every child is in some respects an exceptional child 
and must receive consideration as such. When you 
begin your associations with the child, do so by becom- 
ing familiar with his individual traits and peculiar- 
ities. Describe fully all the traits which distinguish 
him. If some of these are striking, follow them out 
and try to devise ways of controlling them, i. e., 
encouraging or utilizing or discouraging them. Many 
children are highly gifted in some direction. If you 
have to deal with such a case, consider how to provide 
proper advantages for it. Since each has his own 
strength or weakness, the question as to whether 
it is better to encourage him along the line of the 
former or to dwell upon the latter in order to bring 
it up to a given standard is one that must be considered. 
If the child has obvious defects try to relieve them. 
Secure parental cooperation and consent to have needs 
attended to and find places and institutions where 
children suffering from such difficulties may be handled. 
Numerous facilities are available for curable defects 
and it is your business to help find them for the suf- 
fering child. Whether your case be strength, weak- 
ness, or mediocrity, try to discover the traits of im- 
portance in handling him and in providing for his 
welfare. 

Study especially to see how far his school work 
ministers to his peculiar needs. If he has a talent for 
some occupation, is the talent being properly directed 
by the school? Is one capacity being sacrificed for 
the sake of another? If the case is one of weakness, 

52 



THE EXCEPTIONAL CHILD 53 

it should be remembered that physical weakness and 
malnutrition often lie at the basis of mental defects 
and care should be directed to make the child sound 
in body before trying to accomplish anything import- 
ant with his mind. 

Study Outline. 

1. Note whether child has special capacities or inter- 
ests. 

2. Note any peculiarities which mark him off from 
others. 

3. Collect and study his drawings, what they show 
as to mentality, etc. 

4. If he has made collections, study and classify. 

5. Note objects constructed: doll clothes, toys, etc., 
and discover his motives, his ability to make things 
and his needs. 

6. Give evidences of dramatic ability, watch his 
plays and acting. 

7. Note special musical ability, direction of interest 
and kind of music. 

8. Note interest in dancing — kind and character. 

9. Interest in experimentation, in prying into things 
and secrets. 

10. Interest in outdoor activities — hunting, swim- 
ming, gardening. 

11. Attitude towards pets, if unusual, and what 
this is. 

12. Interest in particular people, and reason for 
interest. 

13. Particular bent in reading — stories, poetry, etc. 

14. Special gift in writing — character and degree. 

15. If child is below grade in some respect, note 



54 BEHAVIOR OF AN INDIVIDUAL CHILD 

difficulty, devise tests to discover the kind and amount 
of such deficiency. 

16. In connection with home conditions find out 
about heredity of exceptional child and account for 
his condition if possible. 

17. After testing and finding peculiarity, devise 
means for dealing with his case effectively. 

Suggestive Reading. 

Ayres, Laggards in our schools. New York Charities. 1909. 

Barnes, Studies in education. First and second series. Important 
material. 

Barnes, The public school and the special child. N. E. A. 1908, pp. 
1118-1123. 

Bolton, Principles of education, chapter xii. 

Bruce, Psychology and parenthood, chapter iv. 

Bruce-Wiener, The education of Karl Witte. 

Dewey, School and society, pp. 15-40. Chicago: The University of 
Chicago. 1900. 

Dewey, Schools of tomorrow, chapter vi. 

Dopp, The place of industries in education, chapters ii-iii. Chicago: 
The University of Chicago. 1905. 

GoDDARD, Feeblemindedness. New York: The Macmillan Co. 1915. 

Healy, The individual delinquent. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 
1915. 

Holmes, School organization and the individual child, chapter x. Wor- 
cester. 1912. 

MacMillan, The discovery and training of exceptionally bright children. 
In The child in the city, pp. 203-212. 

Mill, Autobiography. 

Huey, Backward and feeble minded children. Baltimore: Warwick & 
York. 1912, 

Morgan, The backward child. New York. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 
1914. 

Sachs, Nervous diseases of children. New York: Wood & Co. 1905. 

Seguin, Idiocy: treatment by physiological method. New York: Wood 
& Co. 1866. Also 1907. 

Shuttleworth and Potts, Mentally deficient children. Philadelphia: 
Blakiston's Sons & Co. 1910. 

Sully, Studies in childhood, chapters ix, x, xii. 

Stern, The supernormal child. Jour. Ed. Ps5\, Mar., Apr., 1911. 

Stoner, Natural education. IndianapoHs: Bobbs-Merrill Co. 1914. 

Terman, Precocious children. Forum., Dec, 1914. 

Thorndike, Individuality. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin Co. 1911. 

Tredgold, Mental deficiency. New York, Wood & Co. ^ 1908. 

Wallin, Experimental studies of mental defectives. Baltimore: War- 
wick & York. 1912. 



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